


Petunias

by Arwen88



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Multi, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-02-17
Packaged: 2019-03-20 11:44:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13716996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arwen88/pseuds/Arwen88
Summary: Christopher had always tried to not imagine too much how his soulmate was going to be.The universe was big and one never knows who they’re going to meet while traveling on a starship, and that had been his dream for half his life. [...]It was kind of jarring anyway when, as First Officer and following his Captain's order, he beamed up the Vulcan's delegation from Marath and suddenly his mark was full on burning as a group of old vulcans stared at him emotionless.





	Petunias

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Cow-T (fifth week, prompt "prison") and the Maritombola (prompt 49) of LDF.  
> Proofread by Yuppu because english is not my first language.  
> I'm looking for someone who could proofread another Kirk/Pike/Spock that I'm writing these weeks, if you're interested let me know, please.  
> There are references to the facts happened in the book "Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #1 Crisis on Vulcan".

Christopher had always tried to not imagine too much how his soulmate was going to be. The universe was big and one never knows who they’re going to meet while traveling on a starship, and that had been his dream for half his life. That way the thought of his soulmate was really vague, though that didn't meant he wasn't eager to meet them. Christopher threw a glance at his soulmate symbol every morning upon waking up, wondering when the two flowers would have filled up with colors, signaling his soulmate was close, when it would have gone blistering hot to signal that one of them was finally looking at the other.  
It was kind of jarring anyway when, as First Officer and following his Captain's order, he beamed up the Vulcan's delegation from Marath and suddenly his mark was full on burning as a group of old vulcans stared at him emotionless.  
He was speechless for a moment, watching from one to the other as he was filled with dread at the thought that none of them seemed so thrilled.  
"Alright." He murmured after a moment, raising his left hand to show them the flowers on his wrist. "Who has a couple petunias?"  
Someone cleared their throat in the center of the group and suddenly from his hiding spot behind the older ones in the front, a much younger vulcan stepped up. Christopher relaxed at seeing the boy step down the steps while raising his own sleeve to show their matching sign. The officer smiled openly at the vulcan, watching as a soft green blush spread on his cheeks.  
Only thing Christopher hoped the world would give him at that point was a bit of privacy, since everybody was still staring at him and it was starting to feel a bit unnerving. He barely remembered that he still had to accept them on board the starship and it proved to be what the delegation had been waiting all along since a moment after they all left in silence, leaving behind only his soulmate and a man that bore a resemblance to the boy.  
His soulmate's name was Spock, his father's name was Sarek, and luckily the man wasn't opposed to the two of them spending time alone as they get to know each other.  
Spock almost didn't speak till they were alone.  
"I hope it's not too strange for you to have a human soulmate." He admitted, hoping the boy wasn't as young as he seemed.  
"Not at all, actually my mother is human." He nodded, his hands clasped in his lap, his posture stiff.  
"Oh, nice."  
Spock raised one eyebrow at his comment and Christopher rubbed his neck, hoping he hadn't just offended him.  
"Indeed." Spock murmured.  
"So, how old are you?"  
"I'm seventeen." Spock answered rather quickly. "What about you?"  
"I'm-" He stopped, noticing how much older than the boy he was. "Forty two."  
Spock nodded slowly and Christopher took a deep breath. "I hope I'm not too much older for you."  
"Nonsense. If you're the soulmate fate had decided for me the age gap between us is indifferent." The boy replied with ease.  
Christopher couldn't avoid smiling at him, reaching for his hand across the little table. "That sounds logical."  
Spock dropped his gaze to Christopher's hand, blushing slightly - the officer wasn't sure if it was for the compliment or because he wanted to touch him.  
"Vulcan are touch telepaths." The boy reminded him.  
"If you prefer we don't-" Christopher was barely halfway with his phrase when Spock moved one hand from his lap to the table. The man smiled softly at that and reached for his fingers, slowly caressing his pointer and middle fingers with his own as he had learned was the vulcan way to kiss.  
Spock almost stopped breathing for a moment, surprised, and for the quickest second Christopher could have sworn the boy was about to actually smile at him.

It took them a whole hour before noticing that something didn't look right in their symbols. They stopped their chatting to study their flowers. They both had always assumed the two flowers were a single sign, but now they could clearly see that only one of their flowers had filled up with color upon their encounter. Spock seemed genuinely worried, his emotionless mask slipping, and Christopher reached out to him.  
"It means that we both have another soulmate out there, not that we have to chose between the two soulmate fate gave us."  
"How can you be sure?"  
"Well, I'm not. But I know that I don't want to chose someone else instead of you, so the third soulmate better be prepared to be part of a threesome..." He cracked a smile, trying to lighten up the mood.  
Spock nodded, even if he glanced at Christopher almost as if he wanted to make sure he wasn't actually joking.

Sarek was pleased to know that his son had met his soulmate, yet he was way less pleased to learn his son had decided not to attend the VSA in favor for the Starfleet Academy. Spock found the courage to make that choice after a long time hoping for a chance to explore the stars and furthermore after understanding that it would have been the best way to keep close to his soulmate.  
Spock was actually happy to present Christopher to his mother and show the woman that he too had found someone who was clearly happy to be his soulmate as his mother had always hoped for him.  
When he moved to Earth to attend the academy he briefly entertained the idea to stay at the campus, but quickly decided against it as Christopher offered him to stay at his place, so the two of them could spend more time together.  
They spent long nights talking about what they hoped from their futures, what classes Spock wanted to take, what they were going to tell their soulmate when they would have finally found them.

When Christopher had been informed of a brawl in a bar near the construction site of the Enterprise he went right away, expecting to find some bored cadets fighting because there was nothing else exciting enough around there. He honestly thought the academy could probably have found a better prize for top grades cadets to do in their weekend that go visit a shipyard when they had no real interest for the constructing method. Yet, that night he had seen his other flower slowly fill up with colors and that had almost left him breathless and giddy at the thought that he could probably find their other soulmate.  
When he whistled to stop the fight as entering the bar he was suddenly aware of two things: his soulmate was in the room, if the burning on his wrist was any indication, and the fight hadn't involved just cadets, since the guy sprawled on a table was only a civilian.  
"Everybody out." He ordered, closing in towards the boy. "Are you alright?" He asked inclining his head to look at his face.  
But the boy didn't even seem to hear him, reaching with one hand to cover his wrist with a wince. "Yeah..." He murmured before rolling on his side to get up, stumbling a bit. "Why did you have to stop them? I had them-" He stopped, suddenly dropping his gaze to his wrist and the flowers he had covered with the other hand at feeling the burn, only then clearly understanding what had happened and the fact that he had probably let his soulmate go.  
Christopher couldn't let the boy be so terrified - and he was, judging by the look in his eyes - and so he lifted his sleeve, showing him their symbol with a soft smile.  
"I'm here."  
The eyes of the blonde boy moved to his own wrist to the one of the man in front of him, then slowly up to his face.  
"Holy- you could be my father..." He blurted out, swaying slightly.  
Christopher was quick to reach him and push him on a chair, trying not to get upset for his comment, and helped him find some tissue for his cuts and bleeding nose.  
Watching him Christopher quickly understood who the boy actually was - the resemblance was jarring - and sat opposite to him at the table.  
It took the boy a whole minute of stuffing tissue up his nose to be able to address the other matter. He raised his eyes on the man in front of him and nodded a bit.  
"I'm Jim. Are you sure it's- us?" He asked, blinking slowly.  
Christopher nodded and showed him the flowers once again. "I'm Christopher, by the way. Captain Christopher Pike." He presented himself.  
"Jim Kirk." He murmured, taking in one hand the man's wrist as he watched their symbol close to one another. "Why is it that the other flower is still empty and yours is colored too?"  
"Because I've already met our other soulmate."  
Jim raised his eyes on him, looking alarmed for a moment before he scoffed, trying to pretend he didn't care. "Figures that I would come too late."  
"You're not too late. He has an empty flower too, just like yours. We've been waiting for you together for three years until now."  
"And he's waiting for me too?" He asked disbelieving. "Is he old like you?"  
Christopher pursed his lips, starting to believe that particular wasn't going to bode well to Jim as it had been with Spock. "No, he's twenty now."  
"Oh, good." He nodded, going back to study their symbols. "Sorry if I offended you. Didn't mean to say I don't want you just because you look like you could be my father or something." He mumbled after some quiet moments.  
"Come with me, Jim. Now I remember who you are. I didn't know it was you as in my soulmate, but I've seen your tests, the request to be considered for an early enrollment years ago. Your results are off the charts, you could easily still get inside Starfleet, probably have your own ship in due time, be one of the best out there." He murmured, taking the boy's hand in his.  
"Are you and the other both in Starfleet?"  
"Yes." He nodded.  
Jim kept quiet for a moment, just looking at their clasped hands.  
"What is it that you can have here in Iowa, Jim? What does this place offer you? A trip to prison once a month, a list of minor offences that would put to shame any inmate already there.”  
“Maybe I like prisons.” He shrugged.  
“Nobody likes prisons.” Christopher sighed. “You can have so much more. You don’t have to waste your life in some bar or prison, you could have so much more in Starfleet. Or even just away from here. Come with me to San Francisco."  
"What if I don't want to enter Starfleet?"  
"That's up to you. I hope you will, but I can't make you sign up. But I want you to at least meet Spock too."  
Jim seemed to consider it and huffed a smile. "What kind of name is Spock anyway?" He murmured, but even if he tried to sound tough he was still gently playing with Christopher's fingers, almost as if he couldn't avoid touching him and making sure the man was real, right in front of him, not running away yet.  
"He's vulcan."  
"No way." Jim smiled, no malice for once in his expression, raising his eyes on Christopher. "How is it possible that I have a vulcan soulmate? Aren't they all logical and smart?"  
"You're smart too, Jim." Christopher smiled softly, watching him and hoping really hard that the boy would decide to follow him all the way to San Francisco in the end.

Christopher had informed Spock that he had finally found their soulmate as soon as he was able. Spock had been nervous since then - not that he would have ever admitted so - but not even three years together with Christopher could smother the voices telling him that whoever it was, it was probably better than him for the human. In the end wasn't it what everybody had always told him while growing up? That his soulmate was probably going to prefer anyone else to him?  
On the other hand he was at the same time impatient to see how their soulmate was, because if only he was half the amazing person Christopher was, their relationship would have been heaven on Earth for Spock, a dream coming true.  
Spock was waiting for them at the docks, his gaze moving from the approaching shuttle to the symbol on his wrist, usually covered by the sleeve of the uniform, watching as the flower filled up with color the closer to him the shuttle got.  
He stopped watching his own mark when the shuttle finally docked in its place and with a deep breath he clasped his hands behind his back, looking at the cadets crowd getting out without even seeing them, focused only in finding Christopher and the boy he had brought with himself.  
Spock was finally able to pinpoint his soulmate in the middle of the crowd, his black uniform a stark contrast against the red ones, and a blonde guy that had to be their soulmate who was walking beside him dressed in civvies.  
The gaze of the young man moved away from Christopher's face, sweeping over the crowd between them to stop on Spock as if he had known exactly where his soulmate had been the whole time.  
In that moment Spock knew with certainty that that was his second soulmate, he would have known it even without his mark burning up on his skin, and almost stopped breathing for a moment when the young man smiled brightly at him even from a distance.  
Jim turned to Christopher, nodding towards Spock to know if it was him, and the man nodded with a fond smile, his gaze moving between his soulmates.  
They followed the dispersing crowd and went straight to him, Jim clearly impatient to finally meet his other soulmate. Spock raised his hand in the ta'al before Jim could stretch out his arm. But the boy surprised him presenting him his pointer and middle fingers united instead of expecting Spock to shake his hand.  
They stood still for a heartbeat, staring into each other eyes, before the vulcan dropped his hand to imitate the gesture and slowly give Jim a vulcan kiss under the affectionate gaze of Christopher.  
"Finally we're all together."


End file.
